TITLE 18. PROFESSIONAL AND OCCUPATIONAL LICENSING

BOARD OF MEDICINE

Initial Agency Notice

Title of Regulation: 18VAC85-20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine, Podiatry, and Chiropractic.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Mitch Gray.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: The petition for rulemaking requests an amendment to requirements for standards for professional conduct in the practice of medicine. Specifically, it requests the addition of a requirement for physicians to wear gloves when conducting a genital examination to protect both the patient against the perception of sexual conduct and the physician against the transmission of sexually-transmitted disease.

Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: In accordance with Virginia law, the petition has been filed with the Registrar of Regulations and will be published on May 2, 2016, and posted on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall at www.townhall.virginia.gov. Comment on the petition will be requested until June 1, 2016, and may be posted on the Town Hall or sent to the board. Following receipt of all comments on the petition to amend regulations, the matter will be considered by the full board at its meeting on June 16, 2016.

Public Comment Deadline: June 1, 2016.

Agency Contact: Elaine J. Yeatts, Agency Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Health Professions, 9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4688, or email elaine.yeatts@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R16-21; Filed April 5, 2016, 9:55 a.m.

BOARD OF NURSING

Initial Agency Notice

Title of Regulation: 18VAC90-20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Nursing.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Greg Huber.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: To eliminate the allowance for a person to reactivate or reinstate a license by payment of the required fee within one renewal cycle. The regulation appears to allow a person to let his license lapse and then pay the reinstatement fee without meeting the requirements for continued competency for renewal of licensure.

Agency Plan for Disposition of Request: In accordance with Virginia law, the petition to amend the regulations has been filed with the Registrar of Regulations for publication on May 2, 2016. It is also posted on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall at www.townhall.virginia.gov and will be available for comment online on that date. Comment on the petition from interested parties is requested until June 1, 2016. Following receipt of all comments on the petition, the request to examine requirements for persons reactivating or reinstating a license will be considered by the board at its meeting on July 19, 2016.

Public Comment Deadline: June 1, 2016.

Agency Contact: Elaine J. Yeatts, Agency Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Health Professions, 9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4688, or email elaine.yeatts@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R16-22; Filed April 13, 2016, 10:34 a.m.

BOARD OF PHARMACY

Agency Decision

Title of Regulation: 18VAC110-20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Pharmacy.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Bill Irvin.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: To allow a pharmacy providing services to a long-term care facility to provide prescription information of Schedule VI drugs to a "back-up" pharmacy located near the facility enabling the "back-up" pharmacy to provide the first dispensing of the prescription without the act constituting a transfer of the prescription.

Agency Decision: Request granted.

Statement of Reason for Decision: At its meeting on March 25, 2016, the board considered the petition and the public comments in support. Following a lengthy discussion, the board concluded it will include the matter in the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action resulting from a periodic review of regulations.

Agency Contact: Elaine J. Yeatts, Agency Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Health Professions, 9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4688, or email elaine.yeatts@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R16-10; Filed April 7, 2016, 2:03 p.m.

Agency Decision

Title of Regulation: 18VAC110-20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Pharmacy.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Angela Gilley.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: Within a hospital or free-standing emergency department setting, the medical staff may approve guidelines that are clinically accepted as the standard of care, or are approved by the medical staff of the hospital through the typical approval process (such as the pharmacy and therapeutics committee), which allow pharmacists to change, discontinue, adjust, monitor, order pertinent labs, and make subsequent adjustments to medications as applicable to the approved guideline without requiring a physician order to implement the guideline. In addition, a practitioner may write an order for "pharmacy to dose" a medication, which allows the pharmacist to dose, monitor, order pertinent labs, and make subsequent adjustments to any medication specified in the order based on the pharmacist's clinical judgment.

Agency Decision: Request denied.

Statement of Reason for Decision: At its meeting on March 25, 2016, the board considered the petition; there were no public comments received in support or in opposition. Following a lengthy discussion, the board concluded that it needed additional information and research and some legal advice from its board counsel. For that purpose, the petition was denied, but the matter was referred to the Regulation Committee of the board for further consideration. While the board does not intend to initiate rulemaking at this time, the committee will further review the issue, which will include a discussion of the statute relating to collaborative practice.

Agency Contact: Elaine J. Yeatts, Agency Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Health Professions, 9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4688, or email elaine.yeatts@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R16-11; Filed April 7, 2016, 2:01 p.m.

Agency Decision

Title of Regulation: 18VAC110-20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Pharmacy.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: David Merryfield.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: To allow bar code and RFID scanning to extend the pharmacist check, once the bar code or RFID scan has been verified once for each product by a pharmacist.

Agency Decision: Request denied.

Statement of Reason for Decision: At its meeting on March 25, 2016, the board considered the petition; there were no public comments received in support or in opposition. Following a lengthy discussion, the board denied the request in the petition since there is a mechanism through the consideration of an innovative (pilot) program for use of this technology in lieu of pharmacist verification. In order to accomplish the recommended change, the petitioner could consider submitting an application for the pilot process with specificity for the practice proposed. Additionally, the petitioner was reminded that one may currently use bar code and RFID technology to assist staff in the dispensing process; however it cannot replace the required pharmacist verification of accuracy. While the board does not intend to initiate rulemaking at this time, the board will continue to test out efficiencies and innovation in pharmacy practice through pilots for which the results can inform policy decisions.

Agency Contact: Elaine J. Yeatts, Agency Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Health Professions, 9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4688, or email elaine.yeatts@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R16-12; Filed April 7, 2016, 2:05 p.m.

BOARD OF SOCIAL WORK

Agency Decision

Title of Regulation: 18VAC140-20. Regulations Governing the Practice of Social Work.

Statutory Authority: § 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.

Name of Petitioner: Anjaulyeke Bryant-Covert.

Nature of Petitioner's Request: To amend section 18VAC140-20-70 to allow persons who have failed the licensing examination to count their supervision hours beyond the two years currently prescribed. The amendment would grandfather those applicants who do not meet current requirements for registration of supervision.

Agency Decision: Request denied.

Statement of Reason for Decision: At its meeting on March 25, 2016, the board considered the petition; there were two public comments received in support. Following a lengthy discussion, the board concluded that the petitioner's supervised experience was approved prior to initially sitting for the licensure examination. While a person is required to re-apply if he does not pass the licensure examination within two years, 18VAC140-20-70 specifies a timeframe within which supervised experience that was not pre-registered and approved could be accepted. Therefore, the board does not believe an amendment to regulation is necessary to accomplish the request and has declined to initiate rulemaking.

Agency Contact: Elaine J. Yeatts, Agency Regulatory Coordinator, Department of Health Professions, 9960 Mayland Drive, Richmond, VA 23233, telephone (804) 367-4688, or email elaine.yeatts@dhp.virginia.gov.

VA.R. Doc. No. R16-08; Filed April 7, 2016, 1:59 p.m.